Conservation Resources 



F 786 
.n46 
Copy 1 



RIO GRANDE FRONTIER. 



SPEECH 



HON. S. B. MAXEY, 



,/ 



OF TEXAS, 



UNITED STATES SENATE, 



NOVEMBER 14, 1877. 




WASHINGTON 

1877. 



I Oni fuf 



/-j^ 



8 



.V\^-(. 



SPEECH 

or 

HON. S. B. MAXEY. 



The Senate liaving under consideration the following resolution 
submitted by Mr. Maxey : 

Resolved, That the Committee on Military Affairs is hereby instructed to inquire 
into the expeiliency and propriety of a system of defensive works ou the Rio 
Grande frontier of the United States ; and if upon investigation the committee 
deem it expedient and proper to construct the same, they will report, by bill or 
otherwise, a plan of defensive works for said frontier, and the estimated cost 
thereof, having due regard to practicability, efficiency, and economy. 

Mr. MAXEY said : 

Mr. Presilent : On the night of the 11th of August last, about 
the hour of midnight, an armed band of Mexicans, organized upon 
the soil of Mexico, crossed the Rio Grande, the boundary between 
Mexico and the United States, broke open the jail of Starr County, 
Texas, released therefrom two prisoners — one confined for murder 
and the other for horse-stealing — shot the jailer and his wife, and 
also the coimty attorney, and triumphantly carried these prisoners, 
thus released, from the soil of the United States to the soil of Mexico. 

This gross and flagrant violation of international law, of the comity 
of nations, of the rights of the State of Texas, and of the rights of 
the United States was telegraphed throughout the length and breadth 
of the land. It created great anxiety in the miudS of the people, 
and necessarily aroused a righteous indignation in the breast of every 
citizen of Texas. It was the subject-matter of comment in the press 
throughout the United States, and it was charged in some of the 
papers that this report was exaggerated ; that the purpose of Texas 
was not jDrotection, but to plunge the country into war with Mexico ; 
that these outrages of which we have been complaining for these 
long years were exaggerated, and that the people of Texas w^ere raid- 
ing upon the soil of Mexico and upon the rights of the^ieople there 
as much as were the people of Mexico upon the people of Texas. 
These, I say, were the comments of many of the papers. The public 
mind has been anxious to know the truth in regard to this matter, 
and I deem it my duty as a citizen of the State of Texas, identified 
with her interests and destinies^ as one of her Senators ujiou this 
floor, to give to the Senate and the country the exact truth in regard 
not only to this transaction, but in regard to a long series of outrages 
running back through a period of eighteen years. 

I propose, Mr. President, to establish the fact by evidence conclu- 
sive that the i^eople of Texas have suffered a series of outrages, 
wrongs, insults, and depredations at the hands of the [teople of J.Iex- 
ico, running through a series of years, which have be;M) uuredrt'ssed. 
I assert that not one scintilla of proof ever has been or ever c;iii be 
produced to show that the people of Texas liave ever raided upon 



the people of Mexico. These are broad aud bokl assertions ; hut I 
propose to establish them, not by hearsay, not by the testimony of 
those who might be deemed interested parties, the citizens of Texas, 
but by the records in the archives of the State Department of this 
country, by the testimony of the President of the United States him- 
self, by documents which are piled up in the Congress of the United 
States since the first session of the Thirty-sixth Congress, and by 
the officers of the United States Government placed in charge of the 
military iipon the frontier of Texas. If this testimony is not to be 
relied upon by the American people, then they would not believe 
though one arose from the dead. 

I first call attention to the specific transaction which has been the 
occasion of the comments throughout the country, and of these charges 
against the people of Texas, and lay (upon the point now considered) 
before the Senate the testimony of General Ord, a distinguished offi- 
cer of the United States Army in command of the military depart- 
ment of the State of Texas, given in his official report, dated October 
1 last, to his immediate superior, General Sheridan. The high char- 
acter of General Ord as an officer and gentleman (which is national) 
is too well known to need comment. His testimony is conclusive. 
General Ord says : 

On the lower Rio Grande the removal of Cortina and quite a number of the 
troops -which acted under him, and the exercise of gubernatorial functions by Gen- 
eral Canales, had, while he was disposed to respect the orders of President Diaz, a 
good effect in checking cattle-raiding from that side of the river, and generally 
improving the condition of affairs. 

Lately, nowever, a band of Mexicans crossed the river at Uio Grande City, broke 
the jail and released two criminals, wounding the jailer, his wife, and the county 
attorney, (Mr. Noah Cox,) after which they took the released criminals back to 
Mexico. 

Efforts of Governor Hubbard, and proper officials acting under ti-eaty, for the 
extradition of the actors in this outrage and the prisoners released by them, have 
resulted in »he return by the Mexican authorities of one of the released prisoners 
and two of the jail-breakers, and this was aicomjilished mainly by the efforts of 
General Benevides, of the Mexican army, who happened to be at Brownsville. The 
names of the leaders in this outrage were given to our autliorities by Mexican offi- 
cials and Major Price, commanding the district, reports that the remainder of the 
criminals are still at large and their whereabouts known. As the efforts for the 
extradition of these criminals has caused the resiguation of nearly all the Tamau- 
lipas officials applied to, it is probable that no further steps will be taken in the 
matter. 

Three criminals who committed a murder near Hidalgo, Texas, recently, are 
reported by Major Price to be in the town of Matamoras ; efforts for their extradi- 
tion have also failed. 

In the case of the jail-breakers, the Mexican government ordered the surrender 
of all the criminals. 

Now, here is complete, conclusive evidence, by an unimpeachable 
witness, of tlft truth of the assertion which I have made in regard to 
that matter. In the close of that report. General Ord says that the 
President of Mexico had ordered the delivery of these men to the 
proper authorities. Were they delivered ? No, sir ; out of that baud 
of fifteen or twenty desperadoes whp invaded the soil of Texas and 
broke tliat jail but two have been returned, and of the two criminals 
who were thus released from jail but one has been returned and the 
whereabouts, says the report, of all these men is known. Their re- 
turn was ordered. Why was not that order complied with ? Sir, there 
is the key-note to all tlie troubles that we have had in that country 
for the last eighteen years. It is true that President Diaz did order 
the return of these men and their delivery to the proper authorities 
for trial. It is also true that the authorities of the state of Tamau- 
lipas, from Governor Canales, who was the commanding general of 



the forces there all the way down, absolutely refused to obey that 
order, aud rather than do it resigned. The extradition commissioner 
of Mexico resigned ; Governor Canales resigned; aud, as reported here, 
nearly all the officers on that side of the river resigned rather than 
execute that order. Why ? Sir, the feeling against Diaz in Mexico 
for the issuance of that order was at white heat. No man could hold 
office over there and obey that order. 

I assert it as true that the central government of Mexico, of which 
Mr. Diaz at this present time, or at least was yesterday, the acting 
President, has not now, never had, and until the conditions of society 
there are totally changed, never will have, power to execute any 
order in favor of the United States as against Mexico in the outlying 
state of Tamaulipas. It is for that reason, the absolute want of 
power on the part of the central government of Mexico to enforce its 
orders, that tliis thing was not done. 

Now, Mr. President, I have thought that a brief reference to a few 
of the 'important facts of history, showing the relation formerly held 
by Texas to Mexico would aid very much in the elucidation of this 
question, because these facts bear directly upon the present relations 
on the frontier between the two governments. Texas was formerly 
a part of Mexico, while it was a province under the dominion of the 
o-overnnient of Spain. It so remained until the revolution of Don 
Auo-ustiu Iturbide, which was successful in 1821. That government 
was overthrown, and in 1824 they established what they called a con- 
stitutional government of Mexico, aud under that government the 
State of Texas along with Coahuila constituted a state of Mexico. 
Texas remained thus connected with Mexico until the year 1835. For 
reasons not necessary to recite here, because not in the line of the 
argument, the people of Texas determined to sever the connection 
be'tween their country and Mexico, and on the 21st day of April^ 1836, 
this declaration of independence was crowned with complete success 
by the glorious victory at the battle of San Jacinto, by the capture 
of the commanding general, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the Presi- 
dent of Mexico, and the complete destruction and utter rout of the 
Mexican army ; and I may add that on that white day in the history 
of Texas an empire was born. 

On the Irfth day of June, 1836, Mr. Clay, then chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Foreign Eelations in this body, reported on behalf of the 
committee, recommending the recognition of Texas as an independent 
State. In that report he recommended that the independence of 
Texas should be acknowledged " so soon as it should appear that she 
had in successful operation a civil government capable of performing 
and fultilliug the obligations of an independent power." Mr. Clay, 
on that occasion, upon making the report, said of the battle of San 
Jacinto: "It may be considered as decisive of the independence of 
Texas." In 15)37 Texas was recognized as an independent power by 
the United States, in 1839 by France, and in 1840 by England. 

Resolutions of annexation having been presented were adopted by 
the House of Representatives on the 25th of January, 1845, and by the 
Senate on the 1st of March, 1845, and were approved on that day. 
These resolutions of annexation were submitted by the authorities of 
Texas to the congress of the republic and likewise to a State con- 
vention of the people, both of which bodies met during the summer 
of 1845. The resolutions were ratitied by both the congress and the 
convention. A State constitution was submitted under the articles 
of annexation to the people of Texas and was by them ratified. These 
proceedings were reported to the Congress of the United States, and 



6 

on the 27 I'll day of December, lf^45, Texas was formally admitted iuto 
luid beofiiiie a State? of the American Union. 

It will be borne in mind tha,t the claim of Texas had always been 
that the Rio Grande was her western boundary. She was admitted 
to the Union under that claim of boundary, and in the articles of 
annexation the United States Government assumed the settlement of 
all dis]iuted questions of the boundary of Texas with foreign nations. 
Out of this annexation grew the Mexican war, which resulted in 
comjdete success to the American arms. The active operations closed 
in 1847. On the 2d day of Februai-y, lf^4'*, the treaty of Guadalupe 
Hidalgo was agreed upon and signed and ratitied, and by the terms 
of that treaty, ia the third article thereof, the Rio Grande was fixed 
as the permanent western boundary of the State of Texas. 

This question brings afresh the old disputed trouble of the coun- 
try lying between the Nueces and the Rio Grande, because the Mex- 
icans along the border claim that the State of Tauiaulipas extends 
to the Nueces. If that question was worth a war, and one of the most 
brilliant wars recorded in history, I ask if the protection ol that coun- 
try, thus won by the valor of American arms, is not also worth the 
attention and effective action of this Congress ? If the country was 
worth iighting for, it is surely worth protecting. 

Bringing down the history to the point which I have given, I call 
the attention of the Senate to these additional facts. After the 
treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo this country between the Nueces and 
the Rio Grande, which is the finest grazing country in the United 
States if uot upon the face of the earth, began to rapidly till up 
with splendid stock ranches, not ordinary cattle-farms, but stock 
ranches where the herds were from a thousand to fifty thousand and 
seventy-five thousand and a hundred thousand, requiring no atten- 
tion further than marking and branding. The country had been 
growing wealthy in the productive industry of raising cattle, but in 
1859 a new character appeared on the Mexican side, who has been 
from 1859 down to this present good hour the pest and the curse of the 
border. Juan Neponiuceno Cortina, the great leader and chieftain of 
the border marauders, who has caused the loss of millions of dollars 
of property and of hundreds of lives of Texaus as shown by the 
evidence. 

To show that this is a grave question, one which should attract the 
attention of this Congress, I have only to cite to you this huge man- 
uscript lying before me from the State Department, in which you 
will find that every department of this Government having relation 
to this matter has taken part, the President himself, the Secretary of 
State, both Houses of Congress, and the War Department. 

The history of Cortina is necessary to be placed before the Senate 
because that is essential to a proper understanding of the history 
of the border trouble. In 1859 Juan Nepomuceno Cortina came to the 
front as the champion of the cause of Mexico, and from that day to this 
that daring robber and murderer has been the idol and chosen leader 
of the freebooters of Tamanlipas. The histoiy of Cortina and his band 
of desperadoes is the history of murder, robbery, and arson on the Rio 
Grande for eighteen years, every page of which, as the record of this 
Government attests, is marked with evidence of their crimes against 
the laws of God and man, of their bold and successful disregard of 
the laws and power of Mexico and of the protecting power of the 
fiag of our country. 

In 1859 Cortina and his crew invaded the territory of the United 
States, captured the city of Brownsville, murdered citizens, broke 



open the jail and released prisoners, took possession of old Fort 
Brown, unfurled the flag of Mexico, and bid defiance to the hated 
"Gringos." 

I quote as follows from the report of Major (now General) Heintzel- 
man, of the United States Army, a gallant man, whose word no one 
will question. This w^hich I read is embodied in his rejiort dated the 
1st of March, 1860, and will be found in Executive Document No. 84, 
first session Thirty-sixth Congress, called for by a resolution of Con- 
gress calling upon the Secretary of War to furnish information in 
respect to the condition of the frontier. General Heintzelman says : 

Juan Xepomuceuo Cortina, the leader of the banditti who hare for the last five 
months been in arms on tlie Lower Eio Grande, murdering, robbing, and burnins;, 
is a ranchero, at one time claiming to be an American and at another a Mexican 
citizen. At the time General Taj' lor arrived on the banks of the Rio Grande he was 
a soldier in General Arista's army — 

Who, as the Senate wUl remember, was the general in command of 
the Mexican forces at the battle of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma 
on the 8th and 9th of May, 1846, the opening battles of the Mexican 
war. 

He has for years been noted as a lawless, desperate man. 

Ten years ago he was indicted for murder, and the sheriff attempted to .arrest 
him, which made him for a long period keep out of the way, imtil the witnesses 
were gone. In 1854 he ag.ain began to be seen about ; but no effort was made to ar- 
rest him until in the spring of 1659, when lie was indicted for horse-stealing, and he 
has since been a fugitive from justice. When he came to town be was always well 
armed or had some of his friends around him, making it dangerous to interfere 
with him. 

On the 13th of July last he was in Brownsville with some of his ranchero friends, 
when a man who was formerly a servant of his was arrested by the city marshal for 
abusing a coflee-house-keeper. Cortina attempted to rescue the man. He fired 
twice on the marshal, the second shot wounding him in the shoulder. He mounted 
his horse, took the prisoner up behind him, and with his friends around him rode 
ofi", defying the authorities to arrest him; He escaped to IMatamoras, and there 
was treated with consideration and lauded as the defender of Mexican rights. 

Before daylight on the morning of the 28th of September, Cortina entered the 
city of Brownsville — 

Which is a town of the State of Texas and of the United States — 
with a body of mounted men, variously estimated at from forty to eighty, leav- 
ing two small parties of foot outside, one near the cemetery, the other near the 
suburbs of Framireuo. The citizens were awakened by firing and cries of " Viva 
Cheno Cortina!" "Mueran los giiugos ! " (Death to Americans !) "Viva Mex- 
ico ! " The city was already in his possession, with sentinels at the corners of the 
principal streets and armed men riding .about. He avowed his determination to 
kill the Americans, but assured Mexicans and foreigners that they should not be 
molested. Thus was acitv of two tliousaiid to three thousand int,abitants, occu- 
pied by a band of armed banditti — a thing till now unheard of in these United 
States. 

He made his headquarters in the deserted garrison of Fort Brown, and sent 
mounted men through the streets hunting up their enemies. He broke open the 
iail, liberated the pri.soners, knocked ofi" their irons, and had them join him. He 
killed the jailer, Johnson, a constable named George Morris, young Nealo in his 
bed ; and two Mexicans were after Glavecke, the wounded citj- marshal, and others. 

That is not the statement of a Texan. That is not an exaggeration, 
gotten up for the purpose of plunging this country into war, but is 
the official statement of one of the United States best Army officers. 

Cortina was now a hero, adored by the women of his country, 
believed in by the men, and feared by his government. He remained 
at and about Brownsville defiantly until the arrival of Major Heintz- 
elman with United States troops, on the night of December 5, 1859. 

You will bear in mind that he took possession of that country on 
the 13th of July, lSr)9, and remained there from that time to the lOth 



8 

day of December, 1859, unfurling the flag of Mexico on the soil of 
the United States, sustaining and defending that flag with armed 
men upon our soil, I quote from the very able and exhaustive report 
of the special committee appointed by the House of Representatives 
at the first session of the Forty-fourth Congress. I read from pages 
4 and 5 : 

Cortina estaWislied himself aubseqnently on the American side of the river above 
Brownsville, where he collected men and arms. He repulsed an attack made on 
his position by a number of Americans, assisted by national guards from Mata- 
moras, with some artillery, on the 24th of October. The governor of Texas sent 
out forces against Cortina. Several fights took place in the chaparral, in which 
Cortina maintained his position. Major Heintzelman says : 

And I again quote from that distinguished officer — 

" Cortina was now a great man. He had defeated the ' gringos,' and his position 
was impregnable. He had the Mexican flag flying in his camp, and numbers were 
flocking to his standard." 

Bear in mind that that was on the soil of our country : 

" When he visited Matamoras he was received as the champion of his race, as 
the man who would right the wrongs of the Mexicans and drive back the hated 
Americans to the ifueces." 

The committee say : 

Major Heintzelman arrived, in command of United States troops, on the night of 
the 5th of December at Brownsville. He took command, and, ^-ith a mixed force 
of United States troops, Texas rangers, and volunteers, dislodged Cortina and 
finally defeated him at Rio Grande City on the 27th of December. Coitina crossed 
over into Mexico and established himself there. Once more he crossed over to the 
American side on a raid. We close this account by another quotation from Major 
Heintzelman's report : 

"Most of his arms, ammunition, and supplies to maintain his forces for so many 
months came from Mexico, and principally fiom Matamoras." 

Matamoras is immediately opposite to Brownsville, and is one of 
the most impoi'tant and flourishing towns on the Mexican side of the 
Eio Grande. 

Most of the men were "pelados" from the towns and ranches along the Bio 
Grande. On the Mexican side he always found a market for his plunder. He was 
styled in orders " General en Gefe" and he went about with a bodj--guard. 

The whole country, from Brownsville to Rio Grande City, one hundred and 
twenty miles, and back to the Arroyo Colorado, has been laid waste. There is no 
an American, or any property belonging toanAmerican, tbatcouldbe destroyed in 
this large tract of country. Their horses and cattle were driven across into Mexico 
and there sold, a cow, with a calf by her side, for a dollar. 

Defeated by Major Heintzelman, he fled to th6 Mexican side and 
was received with open arms. The sympathies of his people went 
out to this bold defender of what they were pleased to term Mexican 
honor. He recruited, armed and equipped his force in Mexico, and 
at intervals amused himself by firing across the river at our men and 
at steamboats plying the river. He killed a United States soldier by 
firing across the river by way of diversion. The evidence is to be 
found in the same report, page 5. 

During the interval of the late war Cortina was not heard of on this 
side the river, because the vast commerce along that river during that 
period had brought people from everywhere. It was not safe to try 
it, but he was not idle on his own side. He was paving the way to 
greater power. I quote from the testimony of Colonel John S. Haynes, 
United States collector of the Brownsville district, taken before 
the committee already referred to, and of which Hon. Gustave 
Schleicher, the distinguished Representative of the Rio Grande 
district, was chairman ; tbe part read is from pages 49 and 50 of the 
evidence furnished with the committee's report, as follows: 

But I would call the attention of the committee to a short episode of Mexican 



history reported by the Mexican commission in their deferise of Cortina, on pages 
149, 150. It is shown that, on the 5th of October, 1863, Cortina, then a lieutemjnt- 
colonel in the Mexican army, overthiew and imprisoned Goveinor Kiiix, and made 
Jose Maria Cobos, who crossed over from UrownsYille tliat night governor of Ta- 
maulipas. 

Cortina made governors ! I will sliow that lie was more tLan the 
Warwick of the border before I finish. 

On the 6th, Cobos proclaimed himself also commander of the forces. Thatnight 
he and his second in command were arrested by Cortina, and before breakfast on 
the 7th they were shot to death. Euiz was re-installed as governor on the 9tli ; but 
a few hours after, Cortina again revolted, Ruiz fortunately escaping, and Jesus de 
la Serna was made governor. Ruiz collected a force and returned to Matamoras, 
and on the 1st of January, 1864, was again installed as governor, and on the 12tli 
was again driven out by Cortina, who then proclaimed himself governor. 

He surpassed Warwick ! 

And tiie general government (says the report) accepted the condition of things 
which had been consummated at Matamoras, and shortly after conferred the lank 
of general on Cortina, (page 151.) And yet the commission giavely claims that 
"when the moral condition of our frontier is far superior to that of Texas it does 
not seem proper that the causes of the existing criminality of the counties situated 
along the Bravo should be looked for on the Mexican border." 

It will be borne in mind that Bravo is the Mexican name for the 
same river which I have called the Rio Grande. 

Was this man Cortina, then bearing the commission of a lieutenant- 
colonel, court-martialed and shot? Oh, no. Was he tried by the 
civil authorities for murder? Oh, no ; that would not have been en, 
regie. He was simply promoted to the rank of brigadier-general in 
the Mexican army, left in the office of governor of Tamaulipas, which 
he had usurped, and placed in command of all the forces in that 
State. Only this, and nothing more ! A great man was " Cheno," the 
pet name by which these border ruffians call him. From that day 
till his arrest not long since he wag the curse of the border. 

Such is the leader and such are the men with whom you, Senators, 
are confronted to-day. Ah, but they say Cortina was arrested and 
taken to the City of Mexico not many months ago. Yes, he was 
arrested for disobedience of orders. It was said, but I suppose no one 
believed it, that he was to be tried for his great crimes, and that at 
last — the Central Government having posisessed itself of his person — 
peace would reign along the borders. He is simply the idol of the 
Capitol, the observed of all observers, the impersonation of the Mexi- 
can idea of a hero saus jjeur et sans r-eproclw. And to-day his emissa- 
ries are busy all along the line stirring up a new revolution, and by 
way of recreation invading Texas, stealing cattle, breaking jails, 
shooting down jailers, grievously wounding prosecuting attorneys, 
and releasing murderers and horse thieves. This last is just what 
they did on the night of the 11th of August last at Eio Grande City, 
as evidenced by the records from the State Dejiartment and General 
Oi'd's report, already cited. 

From the clo&'e of the late war down to this good hour Mexicans 
along the border have been guilty of one continuous chain of crimes. 
The testimony accompanying the report to which I have referred 
shows that they have carried their robberies and murders out one 
hundred and fifty miles from the Eio Grande, near to Corpus Christi; 
that the largest cattle ranches on the best grazing lands in the United 
States have been broken \\\}, and that cattle — not by thousands, but 
by hundreds of thousands — have been stolen by these Mexican raiders 
and driven into Mexico, and many thousands sold to the Mexican Gov- 
ernment, while a large Mexican contract with Cuba was filled out of 
Texas cattle stolen by Mexican thieves. This testimony may be 



10 

found not only acconipauyinpc the able report quoted from, but in 
documents pertaining to conjiressional business from the Thirty-sixth 
Congress to the present ; in the message of the President of the United 
States to first session Forty-fourth Congress ; in military rej)orts 
in the "War Department ; in official communications in the State 
Department; in joint resolutions of the Legislature of Texas, pre- 
sented in both Houses of Congress : in a memorial of the convention 
that framed the constitution of the State, likewise presented in both 
Houses, and in the petitions of the people of Texas who suffered so 
greatly. To all this should be added the official reports of the adju- 
tant-general of Texas, General Steele, specially entrusted on behalf 
of the State with peace on the frontier ; the official communications 
of Governor Coke, late governor of the State, and now an honored 
member of this body, and the present Governor Hubbard, and the 
able and exhaustive report of the House committee, with its accom- 
panying evidence already referred to. The character of this able 
committee, made up of gentlemen well known throughout the coun- 
try and of opposite sides in jjolitics, should give to their report, it 
seems to me, very great weight. And all thistestiniony — from the gov- 
ernment of Texas, from the President of the United States, from the 
State Department, the War Department, and from Congress — concurs. 
There is no material discrepancy. It is abundant, overwhelminj^, 
conclusive. I invite the careful attention of Senators to this testi- 
mony. It is too voluminous to read with these remarks, but an ex- 
amination will show that I am fully sustained by evidence at every 
point. 

It has l)een charged that these raids were reciprocal ; that Texas 
men raided Mexico as much as Mexicans raid Texas. Everj^ witness 
without exception before the committee says this is false. General 
Ord being questioned on this point says on page SI of his testimony : 

I inquired carefully when I was down there to ascertain if any raid had been 
committed by Americans on llexicaus, and I could not hear of a single inatance. 

And he adds: 

Besides, on the Mexican side of the lower Rio Grande, so far as I could see, 
there is nothing to steal. (See same page.) 

And that is true. There is absolutely nothing to steal over there 
save such stealing as might be done by one of them of the other of 
property stolen from Texas. Outside of Matamoras, Mexico, which 
is just across the river from Browusville, the people are po;r. All 
the testimony shows that the majority have no visible means of sup- 
port. All the testimony on the point shows that these stolen cattle 
are driven to market, mainly to Monterey, Mexico, a flourishing place 
of twenty-five or thirty thousand people, about one hundred and fifty 
miles from Brownsville, where the price of beef, as the testimony 
shows, is regulated by the success or failiue of raids on Texas cattle, 
or it is sold to the authorities of the Mexican government for army 
purposes, and in one instance proven, a large contract for the delivery 
of beeves in Cuba was filled out of stolen Texas cattle. 

Captain H. C. Corbin, United States Ai-my, stationed at Fort Brown, 
Texas, gave his testimony before the committee, March 1, 1876, and 
states that he has served three years and six months on the frontier, and 
being asked, " Did any case ever come to your knowledge of parties 
raiding from this side into Mexico and stealing from the Mexicans V 
answers, " Never ; I never heard of such a case." And yet two thou- 
sand miles from the border you find that people know so much more 
about our business thau we know ourselves that it is in their mouths 



11 

tliat wo of Texas are raidin- upon Jlesico as nmcli as the pe^plf of 
M^ico are raiding upon us. Here the department «-"™;^- ^,^ «^^^^^^^^^ 
military department of Texas, an honored othcer of tlie United tetates 
Govermne^Mwears that he e'xamined carefully and he could hear of 
no case of that kind. Here is an officer Avho has been stationed for 
?hre2 years an<l a half on the bank of the river as a captain command- 
incr a "post, and he says the same thing; he never heard ot it. 

1 miiht I ile up cnmulative evidence, but, the witnesses quoted being 
United States Army officers, wholly disinterested, mtelhgent, and 
thoronohly reliable, it will scarcely be deemed necessary to carry this 
point further. It is nntrue that raiders go from Texas to Mexico 
If honor and honesty would not act as restraints, as they certainly 
have the couclnsivi point in General Ord's testimony, "there is 
olhinl [hei-e to steal," settles that question. We have appealed for 
redresAn every form, but so far ia vain. There is biting and deserved 
sarcasn hi the^ndorsementput on a report of cattle-stealmg made 
bvCantain Sheridan, commanding the post of Emggold Barracks, De- 
cember 9 1872 The papers having been decorate.l with a sufficiency 
of red tape Unally reached General Sheri^lan, -* Chicago January 3 
1873, who indorsed thns-and you wil bear in mind t^f* G«"«[i^; 
Sheridan commands the military division of the Missouri, of whicli 
the military Department of Texas is part : 

The eppecial attention of the Government has bcen^o frpqueiitly called to the aepre- 
dations^of Mexicaus o/tlie frontier of Texas that the unacrsigned «iuiply bub- 
inits these ailditioual facta. 

He had called the attention of his Government time and again and 
so repeatedly to these outrages, and received no efiective response 
that Ee says,^" I simply submit these papers." What a commentary ! 
They ma^ be found in the execntive document, Foreign Relations, 
first session, Forty-third Congress, .1873-'74, ^'o^/^^ 1' 1\\S« ^40 

Lest there may be a doubt as to the character and extent of the 
ontra-es complained of, I now call attention to the conclusion drawn 
by thf committee befJre referred to. I quote from page b of their 
report, as follows : ,.,•*, 

It will he seen that the coTistant and immense robbery of cattle which is the 
basis of this entire system of outrages, has, in these later statements^ 

And they are referring to the testimony in regard to murder ami 
house-burning, taken before that committee, and the robbery of fed- 
eral offices, post-offices, and internal-revenue offices— 
hirdlv been mentioned, as the murders and other crimes which have grown out 
oMtoversLrw it The question with the people has become one of existence, 
not of pecuniary loss. 

\ud I would that that sentence could reacli the ear and conscience 
of every Senator on this floor. It is now with us a question ot existence. 
The question with the people has become one of existence, not of pecuniary loss. 
And on the point I have distinctly made, that the charge that dep- 
redations were committed by Texaus on Mexican soil is utterly with- 
out foundation in fact and is not sustained by one scintilla of evidence 
I acrain quote from the committee's report and from the late Secre- 
tary of State, Hon. HamUton Fish, this evidence, to be found on page 
9 as follows : 
It will be noticed that Colonel Christo— 
A Mexican officer — 
indicates that the robberios arc committed by robbers of both sides and that the 
losses and sutierings arc n.utual. This is the continual charge of the Mexicans, 
repeated again and again with unblushing effroutery. 



12 

And tliis cliarge is repeated in many portions of this conntry with 
nublushing elfrontery, and with a total and stupid ignorance of the 
facts existing npou the Kio Grande, and I have i)roven it conclusively 
and abundantly. 

Tins committee have, after diligent search, been unable to find a single case of a 
plundering laid from Texas into Mexico. Hon. Hamilton Fi.sh, in his letter of May 
20, 1675, to Ml'. Foster, states, with full knowledge of aU the facts, as follows : — 

And, sir, you will find probably hundreds of letters in this great 
manuscript lying before me, addressed by the Secretary of State to 
the minister at Mexico in regard to these depredations — 

"It may he regarded as frivolous to seek to .iu.stlfy the hostile incursions into our 
territory ou the grounil of letaliatiou for similar inciusious from this side. There 
have been none such " — 

Mark the words of the Secretary: "There have been none such."' 
Will you believe the statement of the Secretary of State, whose spe- 
cial charge and duty it is to look well to the interests of this coun- 
try with foreign nations, and the statement of a man whose char- 
acter for truth and veracity stands so high as that of the late Secretary 
of State, and who i)erformed his duties so wisely and well ? Will you 
believe what he states about it ? 

" There hiive been none such, and proof of the contrary is challenged." 

The people of Texas have likewise challenged proof time and 
again, and not one scintilla of evidence has ever been brought for- 
ward ; and yet the charge is iterated and reiterated, and has even 
passed from the border of Mexico and is alleged in many portions of 
this country ; the same charge absolutely proven to be false by Gen- 
eral Ord, commanding the department; by Captain Corbin, command- 
ing one of the posts on the border ; by Hon. Hamilton Fish, Sec- 
retary of State; by the able and distinguished House committee 
whose duty it was to investigate the whole facts, and who made this 
rej)ort. 

" Indeed, the charge is improbable on the face, from the fact that Mexico, near 
the border, holds out no temptation to plunderers from this side, while the reverse 
is the case in respect to baits in Texas for Mexicans." 

Thus speaks the Secretary of State. 

The proof — 

Say the committee — 
has been challenged in vain. "With the continued charges made and reiterated by 
the Mexicans not a single special case has ever been stated. 

No, sir ; notwithstanding the call for the proof, not a single special 
case was stated, nor can be. 

If this testimony is not sufficient to convince, it is vain to submit 
evidence. I have shown conclusively that the murders, robberies, 
arsons, jail-breakings, release of prisoners confined for crime, capture 
of a town and the murder of some of its citizens, the holding under 
the Mexican flag by an armed band of Mexican desperadoes of a por- 
tion of the territory of the United States, have been committed by 
Mexican citizens on American soil ; that the honor of our flag has 
not been vindicated ; that obedience and protection have been widely 
apart. I have shown further that not a single instance of counter- 
raiding by our people, on Mexico, has been shown or attempted. I 
charge further that American citizens (not of Mexican origin) have 
been driven to the towns as the only security for life, abundantly 
proven in this manuscript lying before me. I charge that the profit- 
able business of stock-raising has been severely crippled, and in places 
broken up, by these raids within the country lying between the 



Nueces and Rio Grande. I charge that such is tlie terror which these 
people inspire over the cattle-herders and ranchmen on the Texas 
S who Ire mainly of Mexican blood, that it is ditfacult to obtam 
warmn- of raids or'inlormation of any kind concerning these raids, 
and that in numbers of instances, when information has been given 
the witnesses were marked and soon murdered. And I aver that each 
andTvey Charge here is abundantly sustained by the evidence lu 
documents acce'ssible to the Senate. And np to this time we have 
had neither indemnity for the past nor security for the future. 

Now, Mr. President, I have truthfully gone over the histoiy of our 
border troubles running through a period of eighteen years. Is there 
a remedy ? Sir, it is idle to talk about treaties. I rom the organiza- 
tion of Mexico under her constitutional form of government in 1H24 
down to this present hour, more than half a ^^-^tury I make t^^ie 
statement that but one man ever duly elected President of J^e Repub- 
lic of Mexico served out his full term, Juarez ; that during that pei od 
she has had nearly fifty men claiming to be Presidents of Mexico , that 
there is a chronic state of revolution in that country ; that tbe stioug- 
est man is the one who wins ; that " might makes right ; and I charge 
that the man who is the pretended President of Mexico to-day is a 
usurper, Porfirio Diaz, who unlawfully wrested the power of the cen- 
tal government from the hands of Lerdo who had ^c^^n lawfully 
elected l)y the people President of Mexico and duly installed in the 
office! I charge thLt it requires all the power of the D^^^g^^Tj^^^^f^ 
to maintain itself in the palace in the capital »* M«^^«« ? *^f ^^^ ,^^^ 
no power whatever to enforce the law or his orders upon the frontier 

of the Rio Grande. i „„i„ i„o+ 

I have proven that in the noted outrage, which occurred only last 
Aucvust, the best endeavors on his part to have these men extradited 
under the treaty made between the United States Government and 
Mexico by Mr. Corwin, acting on behalf of the United States, and 
Lerdo acting for Mexico, were unsuccessful. The Mexicans contend 
that under that extradition treaty they are not required to gi^® ^ip 
men, citizens of Mexico, who had committed crimes in the terutory 
of the United States. That the words of the treaty^' not hotuid to 
cive up" left a discretion to bo exercised as to whether or not they 
would deliver up citizens of their country committing crimes in ours. 
When the demand for these men was made by the extradition com- 
missioner on behalf of Texas, Hon. John C. Russell he appealed 
to the treaty which gave them thepower in their discretion f tl J^^ 
nieut to deliver up these men ; he appealed to international law and 
the comity of nations and the order of President Diaz to his office s 
to deliver them up. The contemptuous reply of his officers on the 
Rio Grande was a resignation, from the governor a^l tli« w%^]°^^- 
He could not do it. The time has never been that the President of 
the central government could control the outlying states^ and notably 
Tamaulipas, with its Zona Libre bordering the Rio Grande, filled 
with smugglers, robbers, cattle thieves, and murderers. . 

But what else, sir ? The condition of Mexican society on the right 
bank of the Rio Grande is exceptional, and perhaps there is not 
within the broad limits of civilized nations a more accursed popiUa- 
tion than that which is assembled on the right bank of the Rio 
Grande, growing out of what is termed by their law the zona Libre, 
or "froG zou© 

What is that som Uhre, Mr. President? In 1859 the Mexican gov- 
ernment promulgated a law laying ott' a belt of territory six leagues m 
width-about seventeen miles-up aud down the Rio Grande about 



14 

three liniulred miles, bounded on the one siile by tlie Rio Grande and 
on the other by an imaginary line. Within that free belt are sit- 
uated the trading towns of Reynoso, Matamoras, Camargo, Guerrero, 
and perhaps one or two others that have the same privileges. Goods 
can be carried to either one of these towns free of duty. They pay 
no import duties within that belt to anybody. The goods are deliv- 
ered to the merchants and put into their stores in these named places 
and they have a right to sell those goods to whomsoever they please. 
It is true the law goes on and says that if they take them out of the 
free belt for consumption elsewhere they must pay the duty before 
crossing the line. But when the merchant sells the goods to his cus- 
tomer the merchant is under no obligation to inquire of that cus- 
tomer Avhere he is going to take the goods ; the result of wliich is 
that within the limits of the free belt are congregated, besides mur- 
derers and cattle-thieves, smugglers from every country, men without 
visible means of existence. 

The attention of the ISIexican government has again and again been 
called by the State Department to that matter, and so far back as 
the 4th of December, 1871, President Grant called the attention of 
Congress to the condition of ailairs on the border in his annual mes- 
sage of that date, in which he uses this language : 

The Eepnlilic of Mexico has not yet repealed the very objectionable laws estab- 
lishing wliat is known as the " free zone" on tlio frontier of the United States. 
It is hoped that this may yet be done, and also that more stiingent measures may 
be taken by that republic for restraining lawless persons on its frontiers. I hope 
that Mexico, bj' its own action, will soon relieve this Go vermneut of the difficulties 
experienced from these causes. 

What was the answer ? You may take up the papers of the city 
of Mexico of that date, take up the paper called the Nineteenth 
Century, (Siglo XIX,) or the Diario, the otlicial paper of the govern- 
ment of Mexico, and you will lind argument after argument by most 
able and distinguished lawyers of Mexico directed to that portion of 
the President's message to which I have referred, and endeavoring 
to overthrow the charges made by the President that that was dan- 
gerous to peace and quiet along the frontier of the United States. It 
exists to-day. This zona Uhre is a matter of necessity with the cen- 
tral government of Mexico. It was put there, in my judgment, be- 
cause the centra] government, really having no power over the out- 
lying states, desired to throw out a bait to secure the action of 
Tamaulipas to aid the central government ; second, to destroy the 
commerce along our border on the side of the United States, and it 
has had a fearful eiiect on our border in that direction, greatly lessen- 
ing the commercial importance of our border towns ; and third, and 
last, the effect (whether designed or not) has been to herd together 
in that belt, six leagues or about seventeen miles in width and about 
three hundred miles long up and down the river, a population the 
most pestiferotis that ever cursed the earth ; and this population, 
having, as all the testimony shows, no visible means of support, lives 
by smuggling and by cattle-stealing from the people of Texas; and 
hence it is that Cortina has no diiiiculty whatever in organizing a 
raid into Texas because he has the best material for his purpose ou 
earth right at Land. 

Bearing in mind, Mr. President, the character of this population 
and this long series of outrages perpetrated upon the people of Texas, 
the first question will arise, Why have they not been checked ? It 
is a natural question. I was asked a few days ago by a very intelli- 
gent gentleuuin, " Why do you not send your militia there and stop 



15 

them?" Talk about keepincc a militia on a frontier line for eighteen 
years ! It is not an exceptional and sporadic case of raiding into our 
country, but it is reduced to an exact science ; it is kept up year in 
and year out, and has been kept up thus for all these long years since 
18*8. 

The militia cannot stop it, for it would be exceedingly unwise to 
take them for a long period from their legitimate business. But we 
must bear in mind that when the compact of union was framed the 
States gave up their right to keep armies and navies in time of peace, 
and entered into a compact by Avhich this Government obligated and 
bound itself to provide for the common defense. It is therefore not 
for the State to do ; for it is not only the territory of the State of 
Texas, but it is the territory of the United States. It is not alone 
the destruction of the lives and property of the people of Texas, but 
it is an msult to the honor of our flag, and hurtful to free govern- 
ment. 

What, then, do we propose to do ? Do you expect aid by treaties ? 
Do you not know, sir— is there an intelligent man in the land who 
does not know that this displaced President, tbe lawful President of 
Mexico, Sebastiano Lerdo, is doing all in his power to get back his 
rights all over Mexico and along tlie Rio Grande border ? He has 
his emissaries endeavoring to organize a revolution to come to his 
own again. Diaz is a usurper, without lawful power ; but, like wise, 
sagacious, educated usurpers in all times and countries, he is emi- 
nently conservative and conciliatory, and endeavors to carry on a 
just and equitable government ; and I have no doubt that he wants 
to do right by our country, but he has not the power to do it. If he 
can maintain himself in his place, it is all that he can do. 

In addition to this, the emissaries of this man, Cortina, are along 
the Rio Grande frontier endeavoring to stir up strife, in order that he 
may coiue back and be again the bold defender of the so-called honor 
of the Mexican people, and resume his role of murderer and robber 
of Texas cattle. And bear in mind, Mr. President, that from the close 
of the Mexican war down to now those people in the state of Tamau- 
lipas across the line have been indoctrinated in the belief that that 
country between the Rio Grande and the Nueces is rightfully theirs. 
They are taught that, and they believe it ; and they believe that the 
only crime in murder and robbery and cattle-stealing over in Texas 
is the crime of being caught. 

In this unsettled condition of things, I ask you if a wise govern- 
ment will not in peace prepare for war? It is said that the people of 
Texas seek war with Mexico. What a ridiculous absurdity! The 
people of Texas have commoji sense. They understand their inter- 
est as other people understand theirs. With a population llowing into 
our State annually of three hundred thousand, when the wealth of 
the State has been doubled in the last three years, when the next ap- 
portionment for Congress will show between fifteen and twenty Rep- 
resentatives on the floor of the other House for the State of Texas, I 
ask if any wise man in Texas would endeavor to plunge this country 
into war whereby this great stream of wealth which is pouring into 
our State might be diverted into some other channel? It is foolish. 
Texas wants no war. 

It is said that we want more territory ; that we are anxious to get 
the territory across the Rio Grande. 

Why, Mr.' President, the territory of Texas to-day is as large as all 
New England, all the Middle States, Ohio, Illinois, and several thou- 
sand square miles thrown in for good count. The territorj' of Texas 



16 

to-day is more than onc-thinl of the eiitu-e territory of the United 
States at tbe adoption of tlie Constitution of the' United States. 
What do we vrant with more territory ? What we do want is peace, 
and an enterprising, energetic, hardy immigration to fill np our waste 
places and add to the wealth, prosperity, and political influence of 
our great State. War will not do this; peace and iirotection most 
certainly will. 

Besides, we know that the people over there are aliens to us in 
blood, aliens to us in their social habits and political education, 
aliens in every sense of the word, taught, reared, from childhood to 
hate the name of American and contemptuously always call Ameri- 
cans by the name " Gringo." What good, I ask, would it do to re- 
move the line from the Eio Grande to the Sierra Madre ? It would 
be simply removing the line of contention, not the cause. We are 
too wise to want anything of that kind. We have territory enough 
of our own. We are seeking to settle up our own territory, our own 
country, and we want no more. Hut, sir, we have a right to come in, 
not as petitioners asking the charity of the United States Govern- 
ment, but as one of the sovereign States of this American Union, and 
we say our country has been invaded by a foreign people, the lives 
of our citizens have been taken from them lawlessly and wantonly, 
our property has been destroyed, and under the Constitution of our 
common country we demand protection. It is protection we want, 
and if we do not get protection, as it ought to come, from this Gov- 
ernment — under the eternal laws of God and the law of man, the great 
law of self-preservation, we will protect ourselves, and if war ensues 
it is not our fault. We ask this Government to give us that i^rotec- 
tion to which we are justly and constitutionally entitled, and we ask 
nothing more. 

Then, Mr. President, to come to the point as to the necessary force 
on the Rio Grande, my position in defense of the frontier and the 
whole exposed frontier of the United States is no new one. I have 
stood up in this Senate Chamber voting solitary and alone on this side 
in favor of it. Whenever the time comes in my history that I shall 
desert the frontier, whenever the time comes that I am not willing 
to extend ample protection to the man who lives on the frontier, to 
his wife and his children, then my usefulness will be gone forever. 
Sir, when the time comes in these days of reform, and retrenchment, 
and economy, when I shall put the blood of the frontiersmen and their 
wives and children (whether those frontiersmen be on the Mexican 
border of Texas or anywhere along the line clear up to the extreme 
northwestern settlements) — whenever I shall put the blood of these 
men who make States, because they do make them, or the blood of 
their wives or of their children, in the scale on the one side and put 
the nickel in on the other, then I should emigrate from Texas. No, 
sir. I have said here, and I repeat again, "millions for defense, not 
one cent for tribute." No man believes more in wise economy than I 
do, and true economy tells us that in dealing with Mexicans and In- 
dians, who respect nothing but visible physical power, place enough 
of that power in sight, overawe them and thus prevent war, and thus 
save both precious blood and money as well. Any other course is 
penny wise and pound foolish. 

I say that it is the bounden duty of this Government to give us that 
protection along tbe frontier which is effective, not a mere attenu- 
ated line, such as we have had for many years ; for let me tell you 
that the only thing a Mexican fears is physical power manifested, 
made visible. He cares nothing for your treaties ; he does not believe 



17 

iu the power of the Uuited States Goverument, because he has never 
seen it. Yoii may talk to hiui about its great power, but the Mexi- 
cans believe in their hearts that to-day they are able to whip the 
United States. We have had nothing but a weak, attenuated line 
along that border ; and but a few days ago, when raiders came over 
into our country, General Ord, commanding, was compelled not to 
follow, because he had no force to follow them across the line. What- 
ever number may be necessary, beit five thousand men or ten thousand 
men, to protect the frontier, I say I will vote the requisite number ; 
and I say more, that had the Indian frontier been protected properly, 
as it ought to have been, there would have been no massacre of Cus- 
ter and his men, there would have been no escape of Sitting Bull, 
there would have been no war with Chief Joseph. These men fear 
power, and it is all they do fear, and you must manifest that power. 

So I say that I for one believe in protecting amply and effectively 
the entire frontier of the United States and placing a sufficient force 
along the frontier to make this protection effective. You must not 
think they are there as they are here in the States, where you can 
concentrate to-day, in any city in the country, an army in twelve 
hours, made up of volunteer companies ijroperly armed and equipped. 
Each place attacked must depend on its own strength, and that place 
must be sufficiently strong to render the needed assistance to the 
settlements, and every day and every hour this Government fails to 
give the frontier protection it is acting in direct and paljiable viola- 
tion of its constitutional duties and obligations. 

I do not ask you to increase the Army, but I do say put it up to its 
lawful standard of twenty-five thousand men. I say you have got it 
to do because you cannot protect your frontier without these men. 
That portion of our country of which I have been speaking demands 
a large portion of these twenty-five thousand, and other portions of 
the frontier also demand part, and I should be untrue to myself if I 
should ask for Texas what I would not be willing to grant to other 
portions of the Union. 

Mr. MITCHELL. I should like to ask the Senator from Texas 
whether he thinks twenty-five thousand men would give ample pro- 
tection to all the frontier? 

Mr. MAXEY. I will endeavor to answer the Senator's question. 

Mr. MITCHELL. I do not wish to interrupt the Senator. 

Mr. MAXEY. Certainly not. I will answer presently any question. 
The number of the Army now, at its full standard, is twenty-five 
thousand men. At this extra session we should not propose to cut 
down or to increase it, but we should fill it up fully and completely 
to the standard of twenty-five thousand men, leaving the change, rf 
change is needful, to the regular session when we will have more 
time for investigation. I was going to observe that I have heard it 
said that the Army has been used jfor unlawful purposes. Therefore 
abolish it ! That is the logical conclusion, because if we cut it down 
for that reason we ought to destroy it entirely. 

Let us see how that is. In two, and only two, administrations, so 
far as I remember, has that charge ever been made : first, during the 
administration of Mr. Buchanan, iu respect to Kansas matters ; and 
second, during the Administration of President Grant, for sending 
troops to Louisiana and South Carolina, this charge was made. Now, 
what is the result ? The Army went where Grant sent them because 
the reconstruction act, the civil-rights bill, the enforcement act, the 
law which I believe the worst kind of law, authorized the President 
of the Uuited States to send them down there ; and the President is 

2 MA 



18 

the Commauder-in-Chief of the Army and the Navy of the United 
States under the Constitution. If he exercised his power arbitrarily 
and improperly — and I am one who believes he did — then there is a 
remedy, and a complete remedy, beginning in the other House and 
ending here. The Army was improperly used ; therefore the Army 
should be abolished! That is the argument. If that proves any- 
thing, it proves too much. Congress has passed many laws that have 
met with the universal execration and condemnation of the American 
people ; as witness the alien and sedition laws during the time of the 
elder Adams, and the laws I have referred to, in one portion of the 
Union in later times. Congress has not only done so, but it has been 
decided by the Supreme Court time and again " that Congress has 
passed laws in contravention of the Constitution." Congress has 
done wrong ; therefore abolish Congress ! The President of the United 
States, according to this theory, has in the two instances which I have 
named, and in another most notable instance, where the Supreme 
Court of the United States, speaking through the late Justice DA\as, 
now an honored member of this body, told the great and lamented 
Lincoln that his proclamation authorizing the formation of a civil 
commission in the State of Indiana in time of peace, for the trial of 
citizens not in the Army or Navy, was unconstitutional, null, and 
void. The President violated the Constitution ; therefore abolish the 
Presidency ! All honor to the Supreme Court for its manly defense of 
the Constitution in times of peril. 

Well, sir, there are a great many others who believe that the Su- 
preme Court has not paid that strict attention to the law and the 
fact in every instance that should have been paid ; therefore, abol- 
ish your Supreme Court. What have you got left ? It will not 
do to rely on the Navy, for I believe that 'would be all that would be 
left, for they have been investigating that for years. That is the 
character of this argument. If it proves anything it proves too much. 
In the course of nearly a century under a constitutional Government, 
in two isolated instances, the Army has been unwisely and improp- 
erly used, and it is the universal law of right reason, that it will 
not do to draw general and hasty conclusions from exceptional cases. 
But the cause is to-day removed. There is, so far as I know, no- 
where in the broad limits of this Union any people under the jegis of 
our flag that are overawed by the military arm ; but the President is 
doing his constitutional duty. The troops who were once east of the 
Mississippi River, where they ought not to have been, are to-day on 
the frontier, where they ought to be, and if any be left they should 
go there, except enough to take care of public property. Mr. Presi- 
dent, you hear the cry all along the Mexican and Indian borders, com- 
ing up all along that extended line, " Give us protection ; " and I 
say to you that it is wise economy to do so. It is wise economy to 
give ample and complete protection ; and it is foolish unwisdom to 
cut the Army down to such a small amount that they cannot afford 
effectual protection. It is because of that you have had your Sitting 
Bull war, and the massacre of Custer and his men. It is because of 
incomplete defense, of insufficient protection, that you have had 
your Chief Joseph war. It is because of insufficient protection that 
the people of Texas have lost millions upon millions of dollars of their 
property by the^^Mexican raids, and hundreds of the lives of their 
people. 

Let the United States Government discharge its constitutional 
duty and place upon the frontier of the Eio Grande country a force 
adequate to complete protection, and let us not measure by dollars 



19 

what that force is. lu like manner all along the entire Indian line, 
•wherever they are needed for protection of the frontiersmen, their 
wives and their children, give ample protection from the tomahawk 
of the savage ; place that protection which is needed. And who, I 
ask. here in civil life is so well versed in military affairs as to say 
that the General commanding the armies does not know what he is 
talking about when he recommends that the Army be kept up to 
twenty-five thousand men. Who taught them so? When did they 
become so wise? Who can tell us that the Secretary of War is 
mistaken, and that it ought not to be done ? Who can deny the tes- 
timony which I have introduced respecting my own people ? Who 
wants' United States troops in the States not subject to incursions ? 
What State is so imbecile that it cannot by wise laws and a pru- 
dent and firm governor protect itself with its own militia from in- 
surrection ? 

I have therefore asked in the resolution that the posts— and there 
are four there now, but they average over a hundred miles apart— 
along that Tine be strengthened and additional posts added and a 
complete defensive command placed upon the frontier to render to 
the people on the border of Texas that protection which they are 
entitled to under the Constitution. Do that, sir, and this country 
which is to-day a waste between the Nueces and the Rio Grande will 
again fill up,' will again become the home of the greatest cattle 
ranches in all the United States, furnishing not only millions of dol- 
lars of wealth to the people, but will be adding that much to the 
common wealth of this Union. It will be doing our duty whatever 
may be the result ; and if the country, as I stated before, was worth 
a war for it, it is worth providing for, it is worth protecting. 

Mr. President, I have now occupied the time of the Senate longer 
than I had designed. The subject is one which you must all know 
we of Texas feel a deep interest'in. We want protection. We come 
to the place the Constitution tells us to come and demand it. We 
want no war, but >' e do want protection, and by the laws of God and 
man we have a right to it ; and if it is not furnished to us after this 
demand made we shall be forced, much as we regret it, to take the 
protecting power into our own hands, and the consequences will be 
upon the Congress which refuses that protection. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiEiiiiiiiiiii 



017 063 010 5 




